Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew is close to completing one of his many recent trades.AP File Photo

ALLEN PARK -- Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew is close to engineering his third trade near the deadline in the past five years.

The Lions traded a fifth-round pick in 2014 for Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Mike Thomas yesterday. Detroit's trade will not be officially announced until Thomas passes his physical, which may not occur until tomorrow since official transactions cannot happen after 4 p.m.

However, this is not the first time Mayhew has tried to pull off a trade near the deadline.

Detroit previously traded former receiver Roy Williams to the Dallas Cowboys and received a first, third and sixth-round draft pick in return. Mayhew attempted to trade former running back Jerome Harrison to the Philadelphia Eagles for running back Ronnie Brown last season, but that transaction was voided when doctors discovered Detroit's running back had a brain tumor. Now Detroit is on the verge of adding Thomas.

"We've always had the philosophy that our roster is a work in progress, and there's no finish line when it comes to the 53-man roster," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "We've done the same with our practice squad. Try to keep on improving that and move guys around. I think we've had some success doing it.

"Bringing guys up, developing some players, making some trades for other players during the season and offseason. We embrace it. Anyway we can improve the 53, we're willing to do."

The Lions have acquired tight end Tony Scheffler, guard Rob Sims, defensive end Lawrence Jackson, cornerback Chris Houston, defensive tackle Corey Williams, cornerback Alphonso Smith and quarterback Shaun Hill recently through trades. Mayhew has traded for other players who have not worked out, like the acquisition of linebacker Julian Peterson from Seattle in 2009, but Schwartz believes Detroit's front office works hard to all year to find good players.

"It's not just the head coach and general manager," Schwartz said. "There's coordinators, there's assistant coaches, there's pro scouting. A lot of different people involved, even going back to college scouting reports. We have respect for those, too.

"There's a lot of different people that have input into those decisions. If it's right for the team, if it's right for what we have to do short-term combined with long-term, we're certainly willing to do them."